Huskers Return to Arizona for Clover Cup

The Nebraska women’s golf team returns to Arizona for its second tournament of the spring when the Huskers take on a talented 15-team field at the Clover Cup March 14-16, in Mesa.

The Huskers, who tied for fourth in the 14-team Westbrook Invitational to open the spring campaign, Feb. 23-24, will face a 15-team field on the par-72, 6,209-yard layout of the Longbow Golf Course in Mesa. The tournament, which is hosted by Notre Dame, will feature 18 holes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Live stats for the tournament will be available each day on GolfStat.com.

Seniors Katelyn Wright and Steffi Neisen lead the Huskers to Arizona. Wright carries a team-leading 75.47 stroke average on the season, while posting four top-25 finishes in six tournaments on the year. Neisen carries a 75.65 stroke average, while producing a trio of top-20 showings.

Sophomore Cassie Deeg ranks third on the squad with a 75.71 stroke average with four top-30 finishes, while freshman Jordan Chael has joined Wright, Neisen and Deeg in NU’s lineup for every tournament this season. Chael owns a 76.71 stroke average and a pair of top-20 finishes.

Sophomore Cassidy Stelzmiller produced a breakthrough performance three weeks ago in Peoria, Ariz. Stelzmiller fired career-best rounds of even-par 72 in all three rounds at the Westbrook Spring Invitational to lead the Huskers by tying for 14th individually. Stelzmiller’s three-round total of 216 shattered her previous career record (233) by 17 strokes and helped the Huskers to a tie for fourth in a 14-team field with a team season-best 869.

Fellow sophomore Morgan Smejkal also produced the best tournament of her career with a three-round total of 226 that included a career-best 74 in the final round. Smejkal will golf as an individual outside the Husker lineup.

Stelzmiller Leads Huskers at Westbrook Spring InvitationalCassidy Stelzmiller continued her impressive start to the spring with her third consecutive even-par 72 to tie for 14th individually and lead the Nebraska women’s golf team to a tie for fourth in a 14-team field at the Westbrook Spring Invitational on Monday.

Stelzmiller, a sophomore from Placerville, Calif., matched her career-best for the third straight round on the par-72, 6,269-yard layout at the Westbrook Village Golf Club, to shatter her previous career tournament-best (233) with a 216. Stelzmiller’s previous career-best finish was a tie for 33rd at this year’s season-opening Chip-N Club Invitational.

With Stelzmiller leading the way, Nebraska posted a final-round team score of 287, matching the Huskers’ impressive second-round total to finish with a three-round total of 869.

The Big Red tied No. 45 College of Charleston in fourth, while climbing three spots on the team leaderboard in the final round. No. 35 Ohio State ran away with the team title with a three-round score of 838 (281-278-279), while No. 19 Oregon finished second at 848 (279-274-295). No. 46 Wisconsin finished third at 859 (286-288-285). In a field that featured six Big Ten teams, the Huskers finished ahead of Indiana (T6th, 874), No. 36 Illinois (8th, 875) and Iowa (11th, 877).

Freshman Jordan Chael and sophomore Cassie Deeg carded Nebraska’s best rounds on Monday, each firing a one-under-par 71. Senior Steffi Neisen added NU’s fourth score with a one-over-par 73 to allow the Huskers to post a one-under-par team score for the second straight round.

Neisen and Deeg tied for 33rd individually with three-round totals of 220, while Chael settled for a tie for 63rd despite playing par golf over the final two rounds. She finished at 226.

Senior Katelyn Wright managed a 76 on Monday to finish with a 54-hole score of 221 in a tie for 39th. Sophomore Morgan Smejkal rounded out the NU contingent with a 74 on Monday while playing as an individual outside the Husker lineup. She tied Chael in 63rd with a three-round score of 226.

Ohio State’s Jessica Porvasnik claimed medalist honors with a three-round total of 203, while teammate Zoe-Beth Brake tied Oregon golfers Cassy Isagawa and Cathleen Santoso in second at 207.

Huskers Add Pravecek to 2014 RosterCoach Robin Krapfl announced the addition of 2012 Nebraska Class A state champion Sarah Pravecek to the Husker roster on Jan. 15, 2014.

Pravecek transferred to Nebraska for the spring semester, after competing at Nebraska-Omaha during the fall semester of 2013. Pravecek was granted a one-time transfer waiver and will be immediately eligible for the Huskers in the spring semester of 2014.

Pravecek was one of the top high school golfers in the state of Nebraska, leading Omaha Marian to a pair of state championships in 2009 and 2010, before claiming an individual state title as a senior in 2012. Pravecek, who was a three-time first-team all-state golfer at Marian, added a fourth-place finish as a sophomore in 2010 and a fifth-place finish as a freshman in 2009. A spot became available on the NU roster after redshirt freshman Abbie Hunke chose to leave the team and focus on academics at Nebraska. Hunke is a pre-nursing student from Snyder, Neb.

Pravecek spent her first semester of college at Nebraska-Omaha, where she competed in 11 rounds and produced an 81.4 stroke average for the Mavericks. She opened her collegiate career at the Chip-N Club Invitational by tying for 49th in a 75-player field with a three-round total of 247 (83-81-83). She followed with a tie for ninth in a 38-player field at the North Dakota Fall Classic (84-83-79-246).

Pravecek finished eighth in a 60-player field at the SIU-Edwardsville Intercollegiate with back-to-back rounds of 80, before closing the fall with a tie for 29th in a 57-player field at UMKC Fall Invitational. She fired rounds of 84-79-79 to finish with a career-best three-round total of 242 in Kansas City.

Deeg Named First Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week in 2013-14Nebraska’s Cassie Deeg captured the first Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week honor of her career, when the conference announced its first award winner of the season on Sept. 11. Deeg, a sophomore from Hugo, Minn., stormed to her first career collegiate title by winning the 2013 Chip-N Club Invitational at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln with a career-best tournament total of 213 (72-71-70). Deeg, whose previous career-best tournament score was 221, posted the second top-10 finish of her career.

Seniors Neisen, Wright Lead More Experienced HuskersSenior leadership, more experience and greater depth in competition both in practice and tournaments are expected to help the Nebraska women’s golf team climb the ladder in the Big Ten Conference in 2013-14.

Last season, Nebraska’s nine-player roster lacked both seniors and sophomores. This season, two extremely experienced seniors and four sophomores with solid experience of their own will make up the nucleus of the Husker lineup.

Nebraska’s more experienced 2013-14 team starts with seniors Steffi Neisen and Katelyn Wright. Neisen, who has played 113 rounds in the Husker lineup, is a three-time WGCA Scholastic All-American.

After producing two of the top five freshman and sophomore stroke averages in school history, Neisen struggled at times as a junior. However, her career 77.29 stroke average ranks among the top 10 players in Husker history. She opened her senior season with a second-place finish at the Chip-N Club Invitational, before adding a tie for eighth at the Minnesota Invitational and an 11th-place finish at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite. She ranked second among the Huskers with a 76.14 stroke average through 14 fall rounds.Wright led the Huskers with a 77.39 stroke average as a junior. The Incline Village, Nev., native has played 106 career rounds, including a team-best 75.47 average and four top-25 finishes so far in 2013-14.

True Freshman Chael Makes Instant ImpactJordan Chael has made an immediate impact on the Husker lineup. The native of Overland Park, Kan., solidified the Husker lineup with three solid rounds to finish at 224 in ninth place in the 75-player field at the Chip-N Club Invitational. She added her second straight top-20 finish to open her career by tying for 18th (231) at the Minnesota Invitational, Sept. 16-17. She heads to the Clover Cup in Mesa, Ariz., after producing a three-round score of 226 that included a one-under-par 71 in the final round at the Westbrook Spring Invitational, Feb. 23-24. She carries a 76-71 stroke average on the season.

Chael was the Kansas Class 5A state champion in the fall of 2012, while leading St. Thomas Aquinas to its third consecutive team title. She was ranked as the No. 58 player nationally in the Class of 2013 by Golfweek.

Chael captured the Kansas Class 5A state individual title while helping St. Thomas Aquinas to its third consecutive state team crown. She also won the Missouri Women’s Golf Association State Junior Championship in 2012, before adding a runner-up finish in 2013. She added individual medalist honors at the Four-State Team Championship in 2013.

Huskers Face Challenging 2013-14 ScheduleThe Huskers opened the season with a victory at the Chip-N Club Invitational in Lincoln, Sept. 9-10. The tournament returned to Wilderness Ridge, and NU stormed to its first tournament title since 2008 with a record-setting score of 874.

The Huskers hit the road for the first time at the Minnesota Invite, where they managed a seventh-place finish in a 12-team field, Sept. 16-17. NU tied for sixth at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite, Sept. 23-24, before taking nearly a month off to prepare for the Hoosier Fall Invitational, Oct. 19-20. Nebraska wrapped up the fall campaign at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, Oct. 27-29.

The spring schedule began with a tie for fourth at the 14-team Westbrook Invitational in Peoria, Ariz., Feb. 23-24. It was the first of three straight trips to Arizona to open the spring, including the Clover Cup in Mesa, March 14-16. Two weeks later, the Huskers make a return trip to Tucson, Ariz., for the Mountain View Collegiate, March 28-29.

Spring season action heats up with a trip to Texas for the SMU/Dallas Athletic Club Invite, April 4-6. The Huskers will get an early look at some of the Big Ten Tournament field when they travel to the Ohio State Spring Invitational, April 19-20.

The 2013-14 regular season concludes with the Big Ten Tournament at the Donald Ross Course at the French Lick Resort in Indiana. It will mark the third consecutive season that the Huskers have competed at the Big Ten Tournament on the Ross Course. Nebraska will be hoping that more experience and a more talented and deeper lineup will put them in position to contend for their 12th NCAA Regional bid since 1994. NCAA Regional competitions will be held in Stillwater, Okla. (Central), Cle Elum, Wash. (West) and Tallahassee, Fla. (East) May 8-10, before Tulsa, Okla., plays host to the NCAA Championships, May 20-23.

Huskers Continue to Set the Pace in the ClassroomNebraska leads the nation with 64 WGCA Scholastic All-Americans since 1989, including three in 2013. Steffi Neisen capped her junior season with her third consecutive WGCA Scholastic All-America award and her second Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Neisen, who excels on the course, in the classroom and in the community, added a prestigious Nebraska Student-Athlete HERO Leadership Award. She hopes to become the fifth Husker in history to claim four WGCA Scholastic All-America honors in 2014.

Cassidy Stelzmiller added the first WGCA Scholastic All-America award of her young career in 2013. Stelzmiller also joined Neisen as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and an academic All-Big Ten selection in 2013.

Morgan Smejkal and Katelyn Wright also return to the Huskers after claiming academic All-Big Ten honors in 2013.

Overall, Nebraska owns one of the richest academic traditions in all of collegiate sports with a nation-leading 310 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all teams and all sports. NU also leads the nation with 17 NCAA Top Ten Award winners.